If you haven’t heard already, Ellen DeGeneres has opted out of American Idol, and Kara DioGuardi has been reportedly fired (MTV has not confirmed the latter yet).

I’m sad to see Ellen go but I appreciate her honesty. According to her, she’s too nice to judge or critique new talent.

“I also realized this season that while I love discovering, supporting and nurturing young talent, it was hard for me to judge people and sometimes hurt their feelings.”

It was a refreshing trait amongst the bitter commentary of Simon and the annoying tidbits from Kara and Randy Jackson.

Kara as I mentioned was supposedly fired. It’s all rumor right now but if the stars are aligned and the universe is listening, every American Idol fan will get an early Christmas present. That chick was a bit too “pitchy” for me.

And Randy, if not for his contract that’s not up for, I think, 2 more years, we’re stuck with him. Let’s hope he’s read some books this summer and done away with the “dope, ‘bro, yo, and dawg”. Newsflash Randy, you’re 54. You can drop the 20-year old street vernacular. It’s right up there with Kara’s “pitchy”.

Rumor has it that J Lo will be one of the new judges, and possibly Steven Tyler. Not a huge fan of J Lo but this may be a good fit for her. We’ll see. And Steven, hmmmm, should be an interesting new season.